Wireless network identification of electronic patient charts

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for managing patient information on a primary computer system involving the creation of an electronic patient chart; receiving updated information to the patient chart; and automatically accessing a secondary system based on the updated information. The primary and secondary computer systems communicate to better manage inventory, medical prescriptions and other administrative concerns. When the patient chart is edited by a healthcare professional, the primary computer system evaluates the updated information and then sends requests to one or more secondary systems automatically. The updated information may involve the need for a new medicine for the patient, a new appointment for the patient to be set up, and/or a new bill to be generated for the patient, among others. The secondary system or systems provide back-end management for these requests. Such back-end management occurs relatively automatically and substantially in real time.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/147,912 filed Oct. 1, 2018, now U.S. Pat. No. 11,270,784, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/611,601 filed Jun.30, 2003, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,152,453 and both incorporated herein byreference in their entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the medical industry and, inparticular, to methods of managing patient records. More particularly,the present invention relates to the manner in which patient records arecontemporaneously updated during actual patient care activities. Moreparticularly still, the present invention relates to methods and systemsfor providing additional inventory and administrative services during apatient visit.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

During a typical office visit to a physician or other medicalprofessional (hereinafter “healthcare professional”), whether in anoffice or a hospital, a separate patient chart is created for each newpatient. This chart lists all the relevant information related to thatpatient such as medical history and specific medical needs. The charttypically includes other pertinent information such as the patient'spersonal identification information such as their name, address, billinginformation, emergency contact, etc. Indeed, the chart is the primarydocument maintained in most medical arenas. During subsequent visitsthis chart is pulled and handed to the healthcare professional forcontemporaneously taking notes and making a record of discussions andadvice given to the patient. The chart also typically containsinformation related to prescriptions written by the healthcareprofessional during particular visits. Since the chart is in paper form,it is handed back and forth between assistants and secretaries as partof the patient care process. Furthermore, such a chart may be handed toor passed through the accounting department for proper insurance andpatient billing.

Significant drawbacks related to these paper charts are encountered on adaily basis in numerous healthcare facilities. For example, charts areoften lost or misplaced. A lost or misplaced chart creates a verydifficult situation because the re-creation of such information isnearly impossible. Other times the situation may be time critical suchthat re-creation of the information would simply take too long. Thus, alost chart is not only time consuming but potentially dangerous as well.

Another significant problem associated with the paper charts relates tothe legibility of the handwritten notes. Indeed, failure to accuratelyread a medical chart may result in the improper prescription of certaindrugs, which can be very dangerous. Double-checking such issues requiresthe transfer of the paper chart to another person for verification.

In other situations, such as where a nurse is caring for a patient in ahospital environment, the doctor in charge may want or need tounderstand the status of the patient. In order to do so, the doctor musteither call or talk to the attending nurse or physically go to thelocation of the patient's chart (which is typically in or near the roomin which the patient is staying), and examine the chart in person. Thisis unsatisfactory in many cases when the nurse cannot be reached and thedoctor is far from the hospital or the particular patient.

Furthermore, although not often recognized as a problem, the papercharts may in fact aid in the transmission of diseases as the charts arereused and passed from room to room without disinfection. Theinadvertent transmission of diseases is, of course, a dangeroussituation.

Yet another drawback associated with paper patient charts relates to thedifficulties in handling administrative tasks when dealing with a paperchart. For example, when a healthcare professional prescribes a certainmedication, a nurse often assesses whether the medication is on-hand,especially in a hospital environment. In such a case, the nursetypically must decipher the handwriting on the chart and then manuallyexamine the inventory, whether the inventory is managed electronicallyor not. That is, even if the inventory is stored and maintained on acomputer system, that system must still be accessed and checked by thenurse in order to determine whether the medicine is on-hand. Given thepotential for error in reading the handwriting or managing theinventory, the present system using paper patient charts isunsatisfactory.

These problems all directly impact the safety and satisfaction ofpatients and the care that they are given and it is with respect tothese and other considerations that the present invention has been made.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a computerized patient chart systemthat involves a patient room computer system for the contemporaneousdisplay and maintenance of patient medical information, i.e., edits andadditions to the patient chart. In accordance with other aspects of thepresent invention, the patient room computer system is connected, via anetwork, to a primary computer system. Further, the primary computersystem is connected to one or more secondary systems. The primary andsecondary computer systems communicate to better manage inventory,medical prescriptions and other administrative concerns. When thepatient chart is edited by a healthcare professional, the primarycomputer system evaluates the updated information and then sendsrequests to one or more secondary systems automatically. The updatedinformation may involve the need for a new medicine for the patient, anew appointment for the patient to be set up, and/or a new bill to begenerated for the patient, among others. The secondary system or systemsprovide back-end management for these requests. Such back-end managementoccurs relatively automatically and substantially in real time.

In accordance with certain aspects, the present invention relates tosystems and methods for managing patient information on a primarycomputer system. The invention involves the creation of an electronicpatient chart; receiving updated information to the patient chart; andautomatically accessing a secondary system based on the updatedinformation. In an embodiment, the updated information to the patientchart relates to a prescription for medicine and wherein the act ofaccessing a secondary system involves requesting inventory informationfrom an inventory system regarding the prescribed medicine; receivingsaid inventory information; and displaying the received inventoryinformation, thereby allowing a healthcare professional to act or reactto the received inventory information. With respect to one embodiment,the secondary system is an inventory database system for managinginventory of medicine located on the primary computer system. Withrespect to another embodiment, the secondary system is an inventorydatabase system for managing inventory of medicine on a separatecomputer system located in a separate pharmacy. Indeed the pharmacy maybe in a remote location such that the secondary computer systemcommunicates with the primary computer system over the Internet.

With respect to other aspects, when the updated information relates to amedical prescription for medicine, the invention involves requesting apharmacy to fill the prescription and in response to the request tofill, the primary computer system receives information regarding theavailability of the medicine and if available, price information and/orpickup times. Upon receiving information regarding availability, if themedicine is not available, the primary computer system may receiveinformation regarding other pharmacy locations having the medicine. Ifthe patient has insurance that pays for some medicine, the inventionfurther relates to automatically determining whether patient insurancecovers the prescribed medicine and notifying the healthcare professionalif insurance does not cover the prescribed medicine.

With respect to other aspects, the secondary system may relate to anelectronic billing system. The billing system being contacted whenupdated information indicates that a new bill should be generated andsent to the patient and/or the patient's insurance company.Consequently, the invention involves determining that the updatedinformation requires that the patient receive a new bill; andautomatically requesting the secondary system begin the billing process.The secondary system may automatically determine whether the patientinsurance covers the new bill and may further notify the healthcareprofessional if the insurance does not cover the new bill.

In yet another embodiment, the secondary system may relate to anelectronic scheduling system. The scheduling system being contacted whenthe updated information indicates that a new appointment should be made.

The invention may be implemented as a computer process, a computingsystem or as an article of manufacture, such as a computer programproduct. The computer program product may be a computer storage mediumreadable by a computer system and encoding a computer program ofinstructions for executing a computer process. The computer programproduct may also be a propagated signal on a carrier readable by acomputing system and encoding a computer program of instructions forexecuting a computer process.

A more complete appreciation of the present invention and itsimprovements can be obtained by reference to the accompanying drawings,which are briefly summarized below, to the following detaileddescription of presently preferred embodiments of the invention and tothe appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the environment for the presentinvention including a networked system for entering and managing patientinformation.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a particular embodiment of the system shownin FIG. 1, further comprising a connection to an electronic inventorysystem.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a particular embodiment of the system shownin FIG. 1, further comprising a connection to a pharmacy system, whichmay or may not include a connection to its own local inventory system.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a particular embodiment of the system shownin FIG. 1, further comprising a connection to a billing system.

FIG. 5 illustrates a computer system that may be utilized in anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 illustrates a more detailed view of a particular computer asshown in FIG. 5 including automatic entry and remote entry capabilitiesand a particular embodiment.

FIG. 7 illustrates a screen shot showing an exemplary graphical userinterface for displaying and editing an electronic patient chart inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 illustrates a screen shot showing another exemplary graphicaluser interface for displaying and editing an electronic patient chartusing a plurality of window controls in accordance with anotherembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 illustrates software elements in an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary healthcare professional's officeimplementing concepts of the present invention, including differenttypes of patient room computer systems.

FIG. 11 illustrates a flowchart of functional operations related toentering information into a patient chart with respect to an embodimentof the invention.

FIG. 12 illustrates a flowchart of functional operations related toadministering an entered prescription for a patient into a patient chartin accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention relates to a computerized network in a healthcareenvironment. A distributed environment 100 incorporating aspects of thepresent invention is shown in FIG. 1. The environment 100 relates to adistributed network having at least one patient room computer system 102that communicates with at least one primary computer system 104. Theclient computer system 102 and the server computer system 104communicate using a communication protocol over the distributed network106. In one embodiment, the communication network 106 is an intranet. Inother embodiments, the network 106 utilizes the Internet. The patientroom computer system 102 is used to display an electronic orcomputerized version of a patient chart having patient information, andto edit the same, thereby eliminating the need for paper-based patientcharts.

The patient room computer system 102 receives and displays data enteredby the doctor or other healthcare professional providing patient care tothe patient. The system 102 allows the healthcare professional to enterthe information contemporaneously with the patient visit, i.e., duringor shortly after the patient visits the healthcare professional.Although the healthcare professional typically enters such information,as may be understood, many different individuals may utilize this systemto record information related to a particular patient and/or visit,including nurses, administrators, staff employees, etc.

The patient room computer system 102 displays the patient chart for avisiting patient. In an embodiment, the healthcare professional canaccess the information by connecting to the network 106 and requestingthe chart for a particular patient. Access to the chart may require alogin name and password to be entered in order to access the patientinformation. An exemplary login screen for a particular patient, e.g.,John Doe, is shown as screen shot 108 in FIG. 1. This login providessecurity for the patient information as only those persons knowing thelogin name and password can access the information. Also, as shown inFIG. 1, the patient chart may be accessed from both the patient roomcomputer system 102 and the primary computer system 104. When accessingthe patient chart from the system 104, a similar login screen 110 isprovided for security purposes.

In another embodiment, such as when the patient room computer 102 is amobile device, the relevant patient information may be automaticallydisplayed upon entering the patient's room. Alternatively, the loginscreen may be automatically displayed. However, when the device is amobile device, some security may be relaxed since it is assumed theholder of the device is authorized to view patient information. Ofcourse, many other known security methods and procedures may beimplemented to protect the patient's privacy.

The automatic display of patient chart information upon entering thepatient's room may be achieved through relatively constant communicationbetween the device 102 and transmitting/receiving devices (not shown)located in the patient's room and the primary computer system 104. Thesecommunications may enable the primary computer system to understand thelocation of the patient room computer system and hence, whichinformation should be downloaded and displayed on the patient roomcomputer system 102. Alternatively, the patient room computer system mayhave bar-code reading capabilities. In such a case, the room may have anassociated bar-code, such as on door or in some other area of the room.Thus, the healthcare professional need only scan the bar code toidentify the room location, transmit the same to the primary computersystem 104 to thus receive the relevant patient information. In yetanother embodiment, the patient may have an associated bar-code, e.g.,printed on a bracelet, and the healthcare professional need only scanthis information. In this embodiment, the room location is not relevant,as the primary computer system can download the proper information forthe patient independent of where the patient room computer system islocated. More details on automatic and semi-automatic downloading oraccessing of information can be found in U.S. patent application Ser.No. 10/611,250, filed Jun. 30, 2003, and entitled, “System and Method ofAutomatically Displaying Patient Information,” incorporated herein byreference for all that it discloses and teaches, filed concurrentlyherewith, and assigned to the Assignee of the present application.

In a particular embodiment of the present invention, when both computersystems 102 and 104 have correctly accessed a patient's chart, thedisplays are linked and information provided on one system 102 or 104,is substantially simultaneously shown on the other system 104 or 102respectively. Providing the simultaneous display on the two systems 102and 104 provides a monitoring capability for the healthcare facility.That is, while a healthcare professional or some other person isentering information related to a patient, another person may monitorthe data entry to see if errors occur. As an example, while a healthcareprofessional enters a prescription for a particular patient, amonitoring nurse can confirm that the prescription is safe for thatpatient based on known history information regarding allergies, heartconditions, or other predetermined issues.

Also, a person monitoring the data entry may provide improved service tothe patient through advanced recognition of special needs such asmedical supplies, medicines or future appointments, etc. For example, anurse monitoring a visit by watching system 104 may recognize that thehealthcare professional has entered a prescription for a particularmedicine on patient room computer system 102. Upon noticing theprescription, the nurse may recognize that such a medicine is kepton-hand such that the nurse can begin the process of getting themedicine for the patient. Consequently, the patient does not have towait until the visit is over to ask for such medicine. In anotherexample, the nurse may notice that the healthcare professional ispreparing to perform a specific test/procedure requiring specificsupplies and/or assistance. Upon noticing such a need, the nurse cangather the supplies and/or prepare to assist the healthcare professionalwithout the healthcare professional's specific request. Many otherexamples exist wherein the nurse of other monitoring person can provideimproved service to a patient by simply understanding what thehealthcare professional is doing during the patient visit. More detailsof the monitoring operation 1204 can be found in U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 10/610,777, filed Jun. 30, 2003, and entitled, “System andMethod for Monitoring Patient Healthcare Information During a Visit,”incorporated herein by reference for all that it discloses and teaches,filed concurrently herewith, and assigned to the Assignee of the presentapplication.

A particular embodiment of the system 100 shown in FIG. 1 involvesconnection of the primary computer system 104 to an inventory database112, as shown in FIG. 2. The primary computer system 104 can therefore,determine whether certain items exist in local inventory. For instance,when a healthcare professional prescribes a particular medicine, thenurse may wish to provide some of the medicine to the patient uponcompletion of the visit. To that end, the primary computer system 104may access the inventory database 112 to determine if the medicine isavailable. Moreover, upon determining that the medicine is available,the inventory database 112 may be updated as the nurse pulls somemedicine from inventory. Such a process may occur relativelyautomatically, eliminating the need to manually check the inventory orseparately accessing another computerized inventory program.

As may be understood, the inventory database may reside on the primarycomputer system 104, or it may be connected to another system and theprimary computer system simply accesses the other system (not shown).The access may be direct or it may be indirect, e.g., such as throughthe network 106 or some other connection. Besides medicine, in otherembodiments, the patient room computer system 102 has access to theinventory database for determining the availability of other items. Suchaccess may provide a real time or automated basis for uploading andupdating the inventory database 112 in relation to the medical suppliesused during a visit, for example. That is, since the database may beaccessed in real time, and managed electronically, the database systemmay further decrement the existing inventory and begin the process forordering new supplies or medicine to re-stock the inventory.

In yet another particular embodiment (shown in FIG. 3), a pharmacycomputer system 114 may communicate with or receive messages from theprimary computer system 104. In this embodiment, should a particularmedicine not be found locally, the computer system 104 may transmit arequest to fill the prescription to a particular pharmacy computersystem 114, which may have a pharmacy inventory database 116. Therequest may be transmitted via the primary network system 106, orthrough a secondary network connection 118. In this embodiment, thepharmacy has advanced notice of a particular prescription and cantherefore plan accordingly by checking its database 116 and making surethe prescription can be filled. The pharmacy computer system 114 mayfurther provide information back to the primary computer system 104 thatfurther improves patient service, e.g., whether there is a genericversion of the drug, whether the pharmacy of choice carries the medicineor has some on site, what the price will be for the medicine, the hoursof operation for the pharmacy, etc. The patient may then receive thisvaluable information during check out, simplifying their next step ingetting the medicine prescribed.

In yet another specific embodiment, the primary computer system 104 maybe connected to a billing/insurance computer system or module 120, asshown in FIG. 4. The billing/insurance computer system 120 may beconnected directly or indirectly with the primary computer system 104.In this embodiment, the primary computer system 104 can pass certaininformation received from the patient room computer system 102 to thebilling computer system to improve the service provided to the patient.As an example, the billing computer system may be accessed to evaluatewhether the insurance for the patient will pay for certain proceduresprescribed by the healthcare professional. The system may furtherrequest pre-approval from the insurance company, relativelyautomatically. Further, an invoice may be generated to have availablefor the patient on check out, if necessary.

The computer systems, such as 102 and 104 may be represented by thecomputer system 200 shown in FIG. 5. The system 200 has at least oneprocessor 202 and a memory 204. In its most basic configuration,computing system 200 is illustrated in FIG. 5 by dashed line 206encompassing the processor 202 and the memory 204. Additionally, system200 may also include additional storage (removable and/or non-removable)including, but not limited to, magnetic or optical disks or tape. Suchadditional storage is illustrated in FIG. 5 by removable storage 208 andnon-removable storage 210. Computer storage media, such as memory 204,removable storage 208 or non-removable storage 210 includes volatile andnonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any methodor technology for storage of information such as computer readableinstructions, data structures, program modules or other data. Memory204, removable storage 208 and non-removable storage 210 are allexamples of computer storage media. Computer storage media includes, butis not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memorytechnology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or other opticalstorage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage orother magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used tostore the desired information and which can be accessed by system 200.Any such computer storage media may be part of system 200. Depending onthe configuration and type of computing device, memory 204 may bevolatile, non-volatile or some combination of the two.

System 200 may also contain communications connection(s) 212 that allowthe device to communicate with other devices. Additionally, system 200may have input device(s) 214 such as keyboard, mouse, pen, voice inputdevice, touch input device, etc. Output device(s) 216 such as a display,speakers, printer, etc. may also be included. All these devices are wellknown in the art and need not be discussed at length here.

Computer system 200 typically includes at least some form of computerreadable media. Computer readable media can be any available media thatcan be accessed by system 200. By way of example, and not limitation,computer readable media may comprise computer storage media andcommunication media. Communication media typically embodies computerreadable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data ina modulated data signal such as a carrier wave or other transportmechanism and includes any information delivery media. The term“modulated data signal” means a signal that has one or more of itscharacteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode informationin the signal. By way of example, and not limitation, communicationmedia includes wired media such as a wired network or direct-wiredconnection, and wireless media such as acoustic, RF, infrared and otherwireless media. Combinations of any of the above should also be includedwithin the scope of computer readable media.

As stated, the input devices 214 may include many different types ofinput devices. Some exemplary devices 214 are represented in FIG. 6.FIG. 6 also illustrates alternative input device connections 218.Although not shown in FIG. 5, the input connections 218 relate to theconnection elements associated with the computer 200 and moreparticularly 206 to allow external input devices to communicate with thecomputer 206. For instance, the system 206 may receive input from moretraditional devices 220 such as keyboard, mouse, pen, handwritingrecognition, alphanumeric, voice input device, touch input device, etc.In order to receive input information from such devices, inputconnections 222 are used. The input connections 222 relate to thecomputer connections, whether serial, parallel, USB, AT, PS/2, etc. forreceiving information from one of the devices 220.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, other input devices are also used toprovide input information to computer 206. For instance, a bloodpressure sensor/monitor 224 may be connected to a blood pressure monitorinput connection 226 for relatively automatically providing bloodpressure information to the computer system 206. Similarly, a heart ratesensor/monitor 228 may be connected to a heart rate monitor inputconnection 230 for relatively automatically providing heart rateinformation to the computer system 206. Additionally, anelectrocardiogram (EKG) sensor/monitor 232 may be connected to anelectrocardiogram (EKG) monitor input connection 234 and a temperaturesensor monitor 236 may be connected to a temperature monitor inputconnection 238 for relatively automatically providing EKG informationand temperature information to the computer system 206, respectively.Furthermore, as may be understood, other items may also be used asindicated by ellipses 240 and 242.

In operation, during a visit, the healthcare professional retrieves apatient's chart on the patient room computer system, such as patientroom computer system 102 shown in FIGS. 1-4. More details on automaticand semi-automatic downloading or accessing of patient chart informationcan be found in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/611,250, filed Jun.30, 2003 and entitled, “System and Method of Automatically DisplayingPatient Information,” and incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety.

A screen shot of an exemplary patient chart 300 is shown in FIG. 7. Inthis embodiment, the chart 300 is divided into at least three areas: ahistory area 302, a present-day checklist area 304, and a presentdiagnosis section 306. The chart also has a title bar 308 describing thepatient and having a user-interface control 310 that allows the user toclose the chart 300 when selected. The chart may further include userinterface controls 312 and 314 that allow the user to update the chart,e.g., save the changes into memory using the “complete” control 312 orcancel and not save the changes using the “cancel” control 314.

In the history area 302, as shown in FIG. 7, many different historicalitems or information may be displayed. For instance a summary of recentvisits may be displayed (as shown in FIG. 7). Alternatively, drugallergies may be shown, number of visits per year, recent types ofprescribed medication, or almost any other type of historical data maybe displayed. The area 302 may also include user-interface controls (notshown) to scroll through historical items or to select certain types ofitems to display. In an embodiment, the historical area may not beedited such that no accidental changes can be made.

The present-day checklist area 304, titled “Nurse's Checklist” includestwo portions, a checklist portion 316 and a notes section 318. Thechecklist portion 316 provides text boxes for entering informationrelated to the patient on the day of the visit. That is, when visiting adoctor or another health professional, a nurse typically gathersinformation about the patient, such as height, weight, blood pressure(BP), temperature and/or potentially other information. The area 304provides a convenient means for entering the information and a checklistfor reminding the nurse of the various items to be tested and/orinformation to be gathered. It is foreseeable that this area would becustomizable to a particular practice depending on preferences of aparticular healthcare professional. For instance, a podiatrist wouldcare about different information than a general practice physician andthus the items in area 316 may be different for different healthcareprofessionals.

In addition to checklist portion 316, the nurse can enter notes to thehealthcare professional by editing the notes section 318. That is,during a typical visit, the nurse visits with the patient first,gathering information in area 316 and to find out the purpose of thevisit. The nurse can quickly make a note of the purpose of the visit,e.g., “pain in stomach” or “high temperature”, etc. Subsequently, thehealthcare professional is able to quickly ascertain the issues byreading the notes section 318. Of course, any other relevant notes maybe entered into section 318.

The third area of the chart 300 relates to the healthcare professional'sarea 306. In the example shown in FIG. 7, the area 306 is titled“Doctor's Notes” and is divided into two sections, diagnosis area 320and notes area 322. The diagnosis area 320 is generally reserved for thehealthcare professional's specific diagnosis and advice given to thepatient, as well as any prescriptions written for the patient. Thisinformation may become part of the permanent chart for the patient. Thehealthcare professional also has a notes section 322 for taking notesregarding the visit. This information may or may not become part of thepermanent chart for the patient.

In another embodiment, different portions of a patient chart, such aschart 400, are presented as separate window elements, as shown in FIG.8. Chart 400 incorporates a title bar 402 and a user-interface controlelement 404 to close the chart when selected. The chart 400 also has aplurality of sub-window elements, such as elements 406, 408 and 410. Inthis example the sub-window elements 406, 408 and 410 correspond to thedifferent chart areas 302, 304 and 306 associated with chart 300 shownin FIG. 7. That is, element 406 is a relevant history window elementthat comprises similar information as relevant history area 302. Also,the window element 408 comprises similar information as the portion 304,including a checklist area and a notes area. Further, window element 410is similar to the portion 306 shown and described in conjunction withFIG. 7.

As discussed above, FIGS. 7 and 8 illustrate examples of potentialscreens or graphical user interface elements that may be implemented inan embodiment of the present invention as part of the overall userinterface. The purpose of these user interface elements is to displayrelevant information in a meaningful manner as well as provide ameaningful way to enter new, updated patient information so that it canbe stored as part of the patient's medical chart and thus medicalhistory. As may be appreciated, many other user interface elements,including but not limited to, pop up screens, menus, pop up menus,control elements, etc. may be designed to achieve this function.Consequently, FIGS. 7 and 8 are intended to be mere examples ofelectronic versions of patient chart information and the user interfacesfor reading and editing the same.

The logical operations of the various embodiments of the presentinvention may be implemented (1) as a sequence of computer implementedsteps running on one or more computing systems and/or (2) asinterconnected machine logic modules within the computing systems.Accordingly, the logical operations making up embodiments of the presentinvention described herein are referred to variously as operations,acts, steps or modules as shown and described more fully below withrespect to FIGS. 9-12.

FIG. 9 illustrates a software/hardware environment 500 incorporatingaspects of the present invention. The environment 500 includes separatemodules that perform functional operations in accordance with thoseaspects and wherein the modules are communicably connected as needed toperform certain functions as shown in FIG. 9. In general, theenvironment 500 comprises a patient room computer system or layer ofsoftware 502 and a primary computer system or layer of software 504,which, in one embodiment correspond respectively to the patient roomcomputer system 102 and the primary computer system 104 shown in FIG. 1.The patient room computer system software 502 communicates with theprimary computer system software 504 to store patient charts and, in oneenvironment, to simultaneously display a patient chart during a patientvisit. The primary computer software 504 accesses, in an embodiment,inventory databases, patient record databases, and, in otherembodiments, other computer systems to provide information to thepatient room computer system software and to manage other patient needs.

The patient room computer system software layer 502 has a user interfacemodule 506 to both provide information to a user, e.g., through amonitor, speakers or some other device and to receive data from a user,e.g., through a keyboard, touch screen, etc. The different types ofinput devices are described above in conjunction with FIGS. 5 and 6. Theuser interface module 506 provides the software functionality to receivedata and display the same to the user.

The patient room computer system software layer 502 also has anautomatic interface module or modules 508. These modules providesoftware support for the automatic data entry provided from some othersystem, such as the systems shown and described in conjunction with FIG.6. For instance, in an embodiment, the blood pressure monitor may beconnected to a computer system for reading, storing and displaying bloodpressure. This monitor may be connected to the patient room computersystem as discussed above in conjunction with FIG. 6 to transfer bloodpressure information to the patient room computer system. Whenconnected, the patient room computer software modules 508 provide thesoftware communication support to allow the transfer of this informationto the patient room computer system. Other modules 508 may beimplemented to receive information from other sensors or monitors asshown in FIG. 6.

In one embodiment, the user interface module 506 receives data from theuser and stores the information locally. In another embodiment, theinformation is transmitted to the software system 504 for storage on theprimary computer software system. In order to transmit the informationto the primary computer system software layer 504, the patient roomcomputer system software layer 502 has a communication module 510. Thecommunication module 510 communicates with communication module 512located on the primary computer system software layer. In an embodiment,the communication modules 510 and 512 communicate over an intranet. Inyet another embodiment, the modules 510 and 512 communicate over theInternet, or some other network configuration. In other embodiments thecommunication connection between 510 and 512 is wireless, while otherembodiments employ non-wireless technology.

In addition to the communication module 512, the primary computer systemsoftware layer may incorporate many other software elements. Forexample, the layer 504 has a user interface module 514. The userinterface module 514 is similar to the user interface module 506 in thatit provides software support for receiving data from a user anddisplaying or providing information to the user. The actual module 514may differ from module 506 in that the systems may have different userinterface elements, e.g., a touch screen instead of a keyboard, or amouse instead of a pen device, etc.

The software layer 504 also has a patient record database 518. Thepatient record database includes the various patient charts as well asother patient-related information. In operation, the healthcareprofessional accesses the patient chart, stored in the database 518, andupon making changes, stores the chart back to the record database 518.In order to manage the patient records, the system 504 uses a patientrecords management module 519. The management module 519 relates to theapplications or other program elements used and accessed by a user tostore, retrieve and otherwise manage the patient records stored indatabase 518.

Another functional module that might exist on the primary computersystem software layer 504 relates to an inventory database 516. Theinventory database 516 may house information related to various itemskept in local inventory, e.g., medicine, samples, medical supplies, etc.A user may access such information though the user interface module 514.Alternatively, the inventory database may be accessed through asecondary system communication module 520. In this situation, thesecondary system module 520 may receive a request to check theinventory, and in response, the secondary system control module accessesthe inventory application/database 516 located on the primary computersystem.

In an alternative embodiment the secondary system communication module520 communicates with a separate, secondary computer system softwarelayer 522, and in particular with a communication module 524 located onthe secondary system. The secondary computer system software may beimplemented as an electronic or computerized inventory application, abilling application, a scheduling system, or some other administrativesystem. In yet other embodiments, the secondary computer system mayrelate to a pharmacy system located in a separate location than theprimary computer system that receives requests for information regardingmedicines located in that pharmacy, e.g., whether such medicines are instock, how much such medicines cost, etc. As such, the secondary systemincorporates an inventory database, e.g., managed database 526, and auser interface module 528 to aid in the administration of these requestsfrom the primary computer system software 504. Additionally, in order tomanage the managed database 526, the system 522 uses a management module530. The management module 530 relates to the applications or otherprogram elements used and accessed by a user to store, retrieve andotherwise manage the inventory records stored in managed database 526.

Communications between the primary computer system 504 and the secondarycomputer system 522 may require some level of security. That is, whenthe primary computer system 504 requests information from the secondarycomputer system 522, the secondary computer system 522 may need todetermine whether the primary computer system 504 is authorized toaccess and/or receive the requested information. This level of securitymay be handled relatively automatically if the computer systems havecommunicated in the past using methods known in the art. Alternatively,a healthcare professional, such as the nurse operating the primarycomputer system 504 may be required to enter authorization information,such as a user name and password to access the requested information.

An exemplary healthcare professional's office 1000 utilizing aspects ofthe present invention is shown in FIG. 10. Although described as anoffice, is should be recognized that this may relate to a portion of ahospital, clinic or some other patient care facility. In particular, theoffice 1000 includes three patient rooms 1002, 1004 and 1006. Thepatient rooms are separate meeting rooms where the healthcareprofessional will meet with different patients. The office 1000 also hasa nurse's station 1008. The station 1008 may have many differentelements, including filing cabinets, medicine cabinets, etc. The nurse'sstation 1008, in an embodiment, has one or more nurses or other supportstaff present during patient visits.

In the exemplary environment shown in FIG. 10, located inside each ofthe patient rooms 1002, 1004 and 1006 is a computer system. As shown inFIG. 10, the computer may be in the form of a workstation 1010 (patientroom 1002), a pen computer 1012 (patient room 1002), or a hand-heldcomputer system 1014 (patient room 1006). Each of the different computersystems 1010, 1012 and 1014 communicate with a primary computer system1016. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 10, the primary computer system islocated in the nurse's station 1008. The different computers 1010, 1012and 1014 are shown in FIG. 10 to illustrate that many different types ofcomputer systems may be used in accordance with the present invention.Indeed, many other types of computer systems that are not shown may alsobe used as patient room computer systems, as long as it communicateswith the primary computer system to send and receive patient record orchart information.

As may be understood, the computer system 1010 represents an example ofa patient room computer system 102 shown in FIGS. 1-4. As shown, thecomputer 1010 is a workstation designed to remain within the patientroom 1002, i.e., it is not mobile. The workstation 1010 may be used toenter information during a patient visit and to display a patient'schart to a user, among other things, as discussed above. In thisembodiment, the workstation 1010 is connected via wires to the primarycomputer system 1016, i.e., it is hard-wired to the primary computersystem 1016. In another embodiment, the workstation 1010 may beconnected to an intermediate server computer system (not shown). In suchan embodiment, the primary computer system 1016 would also be connectedto the server computer system (not shown) such that the workstation 1010and the primary computer system 1016 communicate with each other.

Office 1000 also demonstrates two other types of patient room computersystems 102, i.e., pen computer system 1012 and hand-held computersystem 1014. The pen computer system 1012 relates to a computer systemthat has different input functionality, such as a pen input instead of,or in addition to, a more traditional keyboard/mouse input system. Thehand-held computer system 1014 relates to a portable computer systemthat a healthcare professional may carry from room to room. Thehand-held computer system may have a touch screen and/or other types ofinput/output functionality that is different from other patient roomcomputer systems 1010 and 1012.

One difference between the systems 1012 and 1014 from the workstation1010, as shown in FIG. 10, is that the systems 1012 and 1014 are meantto illustrate the use of wireless computer systems that communicate withthe primary computer system. As such, the pen computer system 1012 andhand-held computer system 1014 transmit information in a wireless mannerto a receiver (not shown) which then communicates the information to theprimary computer system 1016. The receiver may be located in or on theprimary computer system 1016 or as part of a server system (not shown).Importantly, in an embodiment, the primary computer system also haswireless capabilities to transmit information to the pen computer 1012and/or the hand-held computer system 1014. As a result, the systems 1012and 1014 receive important information related to a patient from theprimary computer system when necessary.

In an embodiment, the systems 1010, 1012 and 1014 communicate with theprimary computer system 1016 via a local intranet system. However, inother embodiments, the systems 1010, 1012 and 1014 may communicate withthe primary computer system 1016 via a wide area network, and in somecases the network is the Internet. As such, a health professional mayvisit a patient in another building, such as a hospital, or at theirhome, and the health professional may communicate with the primarycomputer system 1016 to both transmit information and receiveinformation.

FIG. 11 illustrates a flowchart of functional operations related toentering information into a patient chart and displaying the same on aprimary computer system. Initially, flow 1100 begins with load operation1102. Load operation loads patient record information onto a patientroom computer system, such as patient room computer system 102 shown anddescribed in conjunction with FIGS. 1-4 above. In an embodiment, beforethe patient record or chart can be loaded on the patient room computersystem 102, the chart must be entered onto a primary computer system,such as system 104 shown and described above in conjunction with FIGS.1-4. Many known methods of entering data may be implemented wheninitially loading the information onto the primary computer system,e.g., typing the information or scanning the information may beexemplary data entry methods.

Once a patient's chart has been loaded on the primary computer system,load operation 1102 loads the chart on the patient room computer system,such as system 102. In an embodiment, a healthcare professional uses thepatient room computer system 102 to access the chart. Such a process mayinvolve the transmission of a request to the primary computer system,including the type of information requested, e.g., a patient's chart,and the name of the patient. In response, the primary computer systemmay require some identification information, such as a login name andpassword for security purposes. Upon providing the identificationinformation, the primary computer system transmits the requestedinformation to the patient room computer system, completing loadoperation 1102. At this time, the healthcare professional has access tothe requested patient's chart. Although flow 1100 relates primarily withthe loading of a single patient record onto a patient room computersystem, in practice many different patient records may be loaded ontothe computer system during a session and later recalled individuallywhen needed.

Next, edit operation 1104 edits the patient's chart. During a typicalscenario, the healthcare professional edits the chart during thepatient's visit. Although this step may occur following the visit, suchlate entry reduces the ability to improve the efficiency of the visit asinformation will not be shared with other computer systems during thevisit. Therefore, it is contemplated that this information will mostlikely be entered during the visit.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 11, upon entry of information into thepatient's chart, transmit operation 1106 transmits the updateinformation to the primary computer system. Further, in this embodiment,upon receiving the information, analyze operation 1108 automaticallyanalyzes the update information to determine if additional informationfrom a secondary computer system should be requested. Analyze operation1108 may parse the update information to determine whether apredetermined type of update has occurred. For example, analyzeoperation 1108 may test the update information to determine if a newprescription has been entered. Alternatively, analyze operation maydetermine whether a new procedure has been prescribed, thereby requiringmedical equipment of supplies. Yet other predetermined information mayalso lead to contacts with other computer systems, such as informationregarding new appointments such that a calendar system may be contactedor information regarding the tests and procedures performed orprescribed such that a billing and/or insurance computer system may becontacted.

Once analyze operation 1108 determines that a secondary computer systemshould be contacted, request operation 1110 requests information fromthe predetermined secondary system. Request operation 1110 relates tothe general communications between the primary computer system and thesecondary computer system. Given that the secondary computer system isbeing contacted as a result of an update to a patient chart, it iscontemplated that the primary computer system is attempting to managesome particular issue for the patient. Moreover, in this situation, itwould be rare for the primary computer system to actually send someinformation to a secondary application or computer system withoutreceiving any information in response. However, it is contemplatedwithin this invention that the request for information 1110 includes arequest to notify one or more other systems or applications of anupdate, such as an inventory system may be notified that a predeterminedamount of medicine (based on the updated patient chart information)should be decremented from the inventory. In a more typical scenario,the inventory system would be accessed and information regarding theavailable inventory would be sent to the primary computer system inresponse to the specific request.

As discussed above with respect to FIG. 9, the communications betweenthe primary computer system and the secondary computer system mayrequire an initial step (not shown) of authorizing the primary computersystem. The authorization step may occur automatically, or the attendingnurse may be required to enter authorizing/identifying information tobegin the requesting process.

Upon receiving the requested information, display operation 1112displays such information to allow a healthcare professional workingwith the primary computer system to evaluate the information. From this,the healthcare professional can determine any other necessary operationsthat must be performed, including but not limited to, accessing othercomputer system or applications, notifying the attending doctor ofparticular issues, etc.

Following display operation, flow 1100 ends at end operation 1114.

FIG. 12 illustrates a flowchart of functional operations related toentering a prescription for a patient into a patient chart in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention. Initially flow 1200 beginswith receive prescription information operation 1202. The receiveoperation 1202 relates to the reception of a patient chart updateoperation shown and described above with respect to FIG. 11. That is,when a healthcare professional enters a new medical prescription intothe patient's chart, such as in a patient room computer system displayedchart, the information is transmitted to the primary computer system.Receive operation 1202 relates specifically to the reception of suchprescription information.

Upon receiving the prescription information, an optional monitoringoperation 1204 may occur. Monitor operation relates to the simultaneousdisplay of the prescription information on the primary computer systemsuch that a nurse or other healthcare professional can monitor theinformation. Alternatively, the monitoring of the prescriptioninformation may be done automatically using a computerized method ofparsing the medical history of the patient and determining whether theprescribed medicine is safe or proper for the particular patient.Automatic monitoring requires a predetermined table or chart of suitablemedicines give the patient's diagnosis, medical history, age, weight,etc. Through the monitoring operation, errors may be determined quicklyin order to avoid potential harm to the patient. More details of themonitoring operation 1204 can be found in U.S. patent application Ser.No. 10/610,777, filed Jun. 30, 2003, and entitled, “System and Methodfor Monitoring Patient Healthcare Information During a Visit,” andincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Following the optional monitoring operation 1204, test operation 1206tests to see if the prescription request can be satisfied locally. Thatis, many healthcare facilities carry a significant amount of medicine intheir local inventory. The test operation 1206 tests the local inventorydatabase to see if such medicine is available. If so, flow branches“yes” to decrement operation 1208, which decrements the local inventorydatabase. That is, decrement operation 1208 updates the local inventoryto reflect the use of this particular prescription. Consequently, futurerequests for that medicine are subject to this particular request.Following decrement operation 1208, flow ends at 1210.

On the other hand if test operation 1206 determines that theprescription request cannot be satisfied locally, flow branches “no” tosend operation 1212. Send operation 1212 sends a request to a pharmacyto begin processing the prescription at the pharmacy location. Followingsend operation 1214, flow ends at 1216.

Using the above methods and system, secondary systems can be accessedautomatically, which eases the administrative processes involved withmanaging patient care. Indeed, several secondary systems can be accessedautomatically to provide the patient information regardingprescriptions, scheduling, billing and others upon leaving thehealthcare facility. Since these other systems are accessed using theprimary computer system, stemming directly from the data entered by thehealthcare professional contemporaneously with the patient visit suchthat there is a reduced chance for error.

It will be clear that the present invention is well adapted to attainthe ends and advantages mentioned as well as those inherent therein.While a presently preferred embodiment has been described for purposesof this disclosure, various changes and modifications may be made whichare well within the scope of the invention. Numerous other changes maybe made which will readily suggest themselves to those skilled in theart and which are encompassed in the spirit of the invention disclosedand as defined in the appended claims.

1. A method comprising: wirelessly receiving, by a mobile device, anidentification signal transmitted via a wireless network from a roomtransceiver; determining, by the mobile device, a patient specified bythe identification signal transmitted via the wireless network from theroom transceiver; transmitting, by the mobile device, a patient chartrequest via the wireless network to the room transceiver, the patientchart request specifying the patient and requesting an electronicpatient chart, wherein the room transceiver is in communication with acomputer system to receive, from the room transceiver, the patient chartrequest specifying the patient, to verify that the patient specified inthe patient chart request is associated with the room transceiver fromwhich the patient chart request is received, to retrieve the electronicpatient chart by querying an electronic database for the patientspecified by the patient chart request, the electronic databaseelectronically associating a plurality of electronic patient charts anda plurality of patients including the patient specified by the patientchart request, and to provide the electronic patient chart to the roomtransceiver, wherein the computer system retrieves and provides theelectronic patient chart in response to the verifying that the patientspecified in the patient chart request is associated with the roomtransceiver from which the patient chart request is received; and inresponse to the patient chart request specifying the patient, wirelesslyreceiving, by the mobile device, the electronic patient charttransmitted via the wireless network from the room transceiver.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising displaying the electronic patientchart in response to the wirelessly receiving of the electronic patientchart.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving anidentifier of the patient specified by the identification signal.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising displaying the electronic patientchart.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising modifying theelectronic patient chart.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprisingreceiving an input to the electronic patient chart.
 7. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the identification signal comprises a scanned bar code.8. A mobile system comprising: a hardware processor; and a memory devicestoring code that, when executed by the hardware processor, causes thehardware processor to perform operations, the operations comprising:wirelessly receiving a radio-frequency identification signal broadcastby a room transceiver; determining a wireless network and a patientspecified by the radio-frequency identification signal broadcast by theroom transceiver; transmitting a patient chart request via the wirelessnetwork to the room transceiver, the patient chart request requesting anelectronic patient chart and specifying the patient, wherein the roomtransceiver is in communication with a computer system to receive, fromthe room transceiver, the patient chart request specifying the patient,to verify that the patient specified in the patient chart request isassociated with the room transceiver from which the patient chartrequest is received, to retrieve the electronic patient chart byquerying an electronic database for the patient specified by the patientchart request, the electronic database electronically associating aplurality of electronic patient charts and a plurality of patientsincluding the patient specified by the patient chart request, and toprovide the electronic patient chart to the room transceiver, whereinthe computer system retrieves and provides the electronic patient chartin response to the verifying that the patient specified in the patientchart request is associated with the room transceiver from which thepatient chart request is received; and in response to the patient chartrequest specifying the patient, wirelessly receiving the electronicpatient chart transmitted via the wireless network from the roomtransceiver.
 9. The mobile system of claim 8, wherein the operationsfurther comprise: displaying the electronic patient chart in response tothe wirelessly receiving of the electronic patient chart.
 10. The mobilesystem of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise: displayingthe electronic patient chart.
 11. The mobile system of claim 8, whereinthe operations further comprise: modifying the electronic patient chart.12. The mobile system of claim 8, wherein the operations furthercomprise: receiving an input to the electronic patient chart.
 13. Themobile system of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise:receiving an edit to the electronic patient chart.
 14. The mobile systemof claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise: sending the patientchart request to a server.
 15. The mobile system of claim 8, wherein theidentification signal comprises a scanned bar code.
 16. A memory devicestoring code that when executed by a hardware processor when deployed ina mobile device causes the hardware processor to perform operations, theoperations comprising: wirelessly receiving an identification signalbroadcast by a room transceiver; determining a wireless network and apatient specified by the identification signal broadcast by the roomtransceiver; transmitting a patient chart request via the wirelessnetwork to the room transceiver, the patient chart request requesting anelectronic patient chart and specifying the patient determined from theidentification signal, wherein the room transceiver is in communicationwith a computer system to receive, from the room transceiver, thepatient chart request specifying the patient, to verify that the patientspecified in the patient chart request is associated with the roomtransceiver from which the patient chart request is received, toretrieve the electronic patient chart by querying an electronic databasefor the patient specified by the patient chart request, the electronicdatabase electronically associating a plurality of electronic patientcharts and a plurality of patients including the patient specified bythe patient chart request, and to provide the electronic patient chartto the room transceiver, wherein the computer system retrieves andprovides the electronic patient chart in response to the verifying thatthe patient specified in the patient chart request is associated withthe room transceiver from which the patient chart request is received;and in response to the patient chart request specifying the patient,wirelessly receiving the electronic patient chart transmitted via thewireless network from the room transceiver.
 17. The memory device ofclaim 16, wherein the operations further comprise: displaying theelectronic patient chart.
 18. The memory device of claim 16, wherein theoperations further comprise: modifying the electronic patient chart. 19.The memory device of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise:receiving an input to the electronic patient chart.
 20. The memorydevice of claim 16, wherein the identification signal comprises ascanned bar code.